Release -- Boarding Action

I just had a new story released, "Boarding Action," in the pirate themed anthology Walk the Plank.

Walk the Plank is a Taste Test, a short anthology with three stories all on a theme. Short stories sold alone cost $1.29; Taste Tests have three and sell for $2.49, so it's a little better than getting one free. :)

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Cam and his friends plan a pirate themed prank to play on their friend Marsha Donovan and her father. They dress up and go out in their motorboat with their pirate costumes, plastic swords and water guns, hoping to stage a fun, fake pirate attack on the Donovans' yacht, then spend the afternoon swimming and cruising. Of course it all goes wrong, and Cam's friends bail on him, leaving him to face an angry -- but hot -- man with a gun who wants to know just WTF he thought he was doing.

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Cam had been out with Marcia's family on their boat a few times and knew where they usually went. There was a series of beaches up the coast where Mr. Donovan liked to anchor and fish. They cruised by, keeping an eye out for the distinctive white hull, but didn't have any luck. Next, Cam directed David out to a cluster of islands Marcia liked; the tiny beaches there were quieter than the mainland, and sometimes she could persuade her dad to go there, even thought the fishing wasn't as good.

They cruised around the wooded islands for half an hour or so, then Ted yelled, "There! Hah! Gear up, me hearties!"

Cam snickered and made sure his head scarf was straight, then dug his hat out from behind the cooler where he'd stuck it to keep it from blowing overboard or getting stepped on. David aimed the go-fast right for the Donovans' yacht and the other three all pulled their plastic swords and waved them around, smacking each other a few times in the process.

He happened to be on the right side of the boat when David pulled up to the swim platform at the stern of the anchored yacht, so Cam was the first off. He hopped over while Ted bellowed from behind him, "Ho the yacht! Come out with yer hands in the air and bring yer valuables, arrr!"

Idiot, Cam thought with a grin and a smirk. He scrambled up the ladder with his plastic sword still in his hand, then heard the approaching patter of feet. Bare feet, and coming a lot faster than Mr. Donovan -- who was pushing three hundred pounds if he was an ounce -- could possibly manage without falling over with a heart attack. Hah, it had to be Marcia!

Facing the far corner of the cabin, Cam dropped his sword and leveled his water-uzi at the place where his friend would appear. Ted appeared on the ladder behind him with his own water gun in hand, and Stone and David piled up behind him.

Cam turned to give his friends a grin, then looked back toward the far corner just as a blond figure came dashing into view. He stepped forward and yelled, "Hey, Marcia!" and let loose with a stream of water just as the newcomer aimed a gun right between his eyes. The blond -- who was definitely not Marcia -- yelled, "Fuck!" just as Cam yelped in fear and ducked. He heard an explosion right next to his head and dropped down onto the deck, curled up in a ball with his hands over his ears.

A blast of swearing drifted around him, with drumming footsteps, a slightly more distant thump! splat! thump! and then the roar of an engine zooming away.

Cam's heart was banging away double-time; he could feel it slamming into his ribs and his breath was coming in short, panting puffs around it. All he could think of was that they'd made a mistake, that this wasn't the Selkie and they'd played pirate-attack on some stranger's yacht two weeks after another boat had been attacked and the pissed-off owner was going to shoot him and dump his body onto the pier for the harbor police and if he ever got his hands on Ted he was going to strangle the idiot, and then himself for going along with such a half-assed--

Someone kicked him in the thigh and snapped, "Get the fuck up! Who are you and what the hell were you doing?"

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Also included in the book are "Canons and Honor" by PD Singer, and "Life on the Ocean Wave" by Mara Ismine. Get the whole thing here!